Swansea Star Reveals 'Dream' of Playing for Bigger Club & Admits Club Not Yet Safe From Relegation

Tom Power

90Min23 March 2017

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​Gylfi Sigurdsson has admitted that he "dreams" of playing for a bigger club than Swansea City, but also claimed that he enjoys the "pressure" of trying to keep them in the Premier League.

The attacking midfielder has been the Swans' standout performer as they battle against relegation from England's top flight, and manager Paul Clement has lavished praise on Sigurdsson for his displays since the former took charge in January.

However, in an interview with ​Goal, Sigurdsson revealed that he harboured hopes of playing at a higher level in the future, before going on to temper any backlash from Swansea fans by saying he relishes the opportunity to help them stave off relegation to the Championship.

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FBL-ENG-PR-MAN CITY-SWANSEA

He said: "Of course that's very flattering (to receive praise from the manager). Maybe he was just trying to give me confidence. Of course, it would be a dream to play for one of these big clubs.

"Hopefully if I continue doing well for Swansea and Iceland then in the near future, I can play in a big club. I am enjoying being one of the senior players, though.

"We may be in a tough spot, but I am kind of enjoying the pressure of that. I am trying to make the most of that and help the team to get three points every week."

Sigurdsson's last move to a club of some stature - Tottenham Hotspur - saw the Iceland international fail to impress on a bigger stage, and he returned to the Liberty Stadium two years later for around £7m.

The 27-year-old, who has bagged nine goals and 11 assists this term, also reiterated Clement's comments that the South Wales club still had work to do to preserve their top flight status after suffering back-to-back defeats in recent encounters with fellow strugglers Hull City and Bournemouth.

Swansea lie just three points and one spot above the bottom three with nine matches left to play, and Sigurdsson admitted that he hoped Clement and the rest of the Swans' first-team squad could do enough to fight off a return to the second tier of English football.

He added: "The results in the last couple of games haven't been as good as we would have hoped, losing two very important matches. There's still a long way to go.

"If you look at the bigger picture, with where we were at Christmas and where we are at the moment, we have made a big step towards safety but, of course, it's a really tough season with a lot more football to be played.

"Hopefully we can continue the good work that we have been doing over the last six or seven weeks and we stay up. Clement has been fantastic, you can tell that there's a reason why he has been at these big clubs that he has been at.

"He is very organised. His training sessions are fantastic. He is very positive and he is very good man-to-man with the players. The players have confidence in him and all together it feels like a good combination."